Thursday, July 26, 2012

"I FORGIVE YOU", Message from massacre survivor to alleged gunman: Randi Kaye's report/interview with Pierce O'Farrill, Shooting Survivor & Follow up with AndersonREMEMBERING GORDON COWDEN, Father of 4 "loved life, lived it as it should have been lived": Anderson's interview with Weston & Brooke Cowden (they were with their father at the theater and witnessed the massacre)

FIGHT FOR SYRIA: Update by Anderson CooperINSIDE SYRIA, Residents of Rastan cling to a shattered city: CNN's Diana Magnay reports on Marcel Mettelsiefen, a documentary film maker who just returned from Rastan, Syria

Anderson responds to @AndreaKcc, who tweeted, "How are you handling the heat wave in NYC?"He answered, "You know, I work all day long, so I'm basically in my office from morning 'til nine-o'clock at night."See what Anderson says about keeping cool on weekends when he's not working.

The 60 MINUTES presentation of “The Gardens of the Queen” with Anderson Cooper featuring Cuba’s Jardines de la Reina has been named a finalist in the BLUE Ocean Film Festival 2012, to be held September 24-30, 2012 in Monterey, California. Cooper and the 60 MINUTES team joined Dr. David E. Guggenheim, Senior Fellow and Director of the Cuba Marine Research and Conservation Program at The Ocean Foundation and Fabián Pina Amargós of the Cuban Center for Coastal Ecosystem Research, to explore this strikingl underwater ecosystem. Earlier this year, the 60 MINUTES segment, which originally aired in December 2011, won the 2012 Edward R. Murrow Award for excellence in journalism.

“The Gardens of the Queen” will be screened at BLUE, with an introduction and discussion by Dr. Guggenheim, now in his 12th year working in Cuba, along with the 60 MINUTES producers (invited) and panel of experts focused on the significance of the piece as well as the important roles that marine protected areas play in protecting the world’s ocean ecosystems.

The piece was hosted by Anderson Cooper and produced by Andy Court and Anya Bourg in collaboration with CBS News producer Portia Siegelbaum in Havana. The breathtaking cinematography was captured Bill Mills (Florida Film & Video) and Chris Everson. The producers’ vision was to tell the story of the global decline in coral reefs, but to do so by showing viewers what a truly healthy reef is supposed to look like, providing an important perspective. Unfortunately, healthy reefs are increasingly difficult to find in the 21st century.

Dr. David E. Guggenheim (L) and Anderson Cooper (R) in the Gardens of the Queen, CubaNamed by Christopher Columbus to honor Queen Isabel, Jardines de la Reina, or Gardens of the Queen are one of the healthiest coral reef ecosystems remaining in the Caribbean. In a world where coral reefs are dying, the corals in the Gardens of the Queen are flourishing, and like a living time machine, the Gardens likely resemble the healthy coral reefs Columbus saw, avoiding the rapid decline so common throughout the Caribbean and the rest of the world.

In addition to exploring the magnificient wildlife in an exceptionally healthy ecosystem, the program explores what makes this ecosystem so healthy and the implications for coral reefs elsewhere? Scientists believe part of the answer lies in the fact that Cuba established one of the largest protected areas in the Caribbean 15 years ago and former fishermen are now employed (and earn much more) at diving and fishing operations serving visiting ecotourists. Cuba has committed to protecting 25 percent of its ocean ecosystems in protected areas and has eliminated bottom trawling from its waters.

The piece has received international acclaim and more than 18 million viewers tuned in to watch, the highest viewership for 60 MINUTES in years. Given the importance of bringing the public face-to-face with earth’s treasures and the challenges they face, many hope it can serve as a message for the broadcast industry to support this type of programming more broadly, not exclusively on wildlife-oriented cable channels.

Maybe it was a slow news day but 360 just wasn't all that interesting. Drew Griffin's segment on charity scams covered much of the same ground we've already seen except for a minute or two with a new interview with a new - honest - vets charity called US Vets that has also dealt with Disabeled Vets Nat. Foundation.

The reports on the Aurora theatre victims and Syria also seemed pretty much the same; some new names and new civil war footage but it was all pretty much the usual story for both stories.

The report and panel on Baby Veronica was new and pretty good. It was an almost excellent panel discussion with Areva Martin and Jeffrey Toobin except for the very end. Martin mentioned a similar 1988 case and Toobin said 'check my twitter to find out how that case turned out.'

That annoyed me. Couldn't Toobin have taken a few extra seconds to tell viewers the resolution of that 1988 case? Instead of having to research it ourselves?

I know that makes me sound petty and lazy but come on - a few seconds more to squeeze that info into the show. I'm guessing the problem was that the panel was taped, the Bulletin was taped and the Ridiculist was taped. Martin/Toobin could have a litte more time instead of the 'so what' bit on one of Sandusky's victims releasing an e-mail Sandusky sent to him.

The Ridiculist was pretty good but I already knew the Disney company is evil.

@Jaanza - The Areva Martin, Jeffrey Toobin and Anderson discussion on the Baby Veronica case was not taped, it was Live.

What Jeffrey Toobin tweeted was the opinion of the Baby Veronica case that was handed down yesterday, not the 1988 SCOTUS case. Since Avera Martin referenced the case, maybe she could have elaborated?

The RidicuList is always taped and I'm sure that's a timing issue; as to the Bulletin, I found it odd that is was taped, but several people were tweeting about a big storm hitting NYC about that time and I wondered if it was recorded b/c Isha was in Atlanta and they were worried about losing their feed due to the storm?

I'm over the charity scams, but it seemed like last night, Drew finally got the interview he had been asking for, so I'm hoping that's the end of it.

I did enjoy the Syria report and anything that comes out from people on the ground, I find interesting.

@aries moon I agree that I would liked to have seen AC360 cover Romney's "mis-steps" in London, but I think it may be a CNN thing. Piers Morgan's staff was tweeting Piers' support of Romney. I think all of CNN has gone soft on keeping Romney honest, starting with the fact he's Mormon and main stream Protestants consider the Mormon "religion" a cult. AC360 went nuts with the coverage of Rev. Wright when President Obama was a candidate in 2008, so I'm not sure why Romney is getting a pass. CNN seems to lean a little more right since they embraced the Tea Party in 2010 and I think their ratings woes are reflective of that shift.

I, too, loved "The Gardens of the Queen" story on 60 Minutes - it was visually stunning, but more important an excellent report on our environment, which are few and far between given the tabloid or political stories which seem to dominate news these days.

I thought the past five AC360's have been some of the best of late. Anderson seemed to be more engaged and that makes a big difference.

@Anon 10:21 Not sure why the hate. Anderson dosen't give himself awards as you seem to think.

@wonz, like you, I'm very disappointed in CNN's attempt to slant their coverage to the right--there are tons of examples of this, including the ones you cite and it's been extremely frustrating to watch--it seems they've even hired more conservative pundits than liberal ones these days--the way they practically deify Ari Fleischer is mind boggling and David Gergen has been a MAJOR disappointment. I never feel that I'm getting the full, accurate picture when AC/CNN covers Romney--MSNBC really digs deep when it comes to getting ALL of the facts out to their viewers and they can be equally tough on President Obama as well. CNN is all about false equivalency and that sometimes stands in the way of truth and facts.

Jim Walton is stepping down at the end of the year, I don't know how that will affect their political coverage, maybe Ken Jautz is the problem when it comes to that.